listen now this is your colleague, senator bob corker of tennessee. you'll hear him use the word folks, we believe he's talking about his fellow republicans, such as yourself. take a listen. >> if there is a growing group of folks looking at this and realizing we don't have a lot of cards as it relates to the tax issue before year end, a lot of people are putting forth a theory and i actually think it has merit where you go and give the president the 2% increase that he's talking about, the rate increase on the top 2%, and all of a sudden the shift goes back to entitlement. >> senator snowe, i've read that you've expressed similar sentiments. do you sense more republicans moving in that direction? >> well, at least from the standpoint that, you know, it is possible that what could happen is that we pass the tax cuts for the middle class, that's what, you know, i've been -- get that off the table. we all agree on that. it is not an issue in disagreement. then you can focus on the top 2% of the american people who pay the top tax rates and, of course, e